Every January, without fail, when I enter the Winter Antiques Show, I think of Howard Carter, the British archaeologist and Egyptologist, who unearthed the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. I see Carter peering through a chink at the top of the stone wall separating him from the tomb’s antechamber, his only illumination a candle. “Can you see anything?” Lord Carnarvon, the backer of the exhibition, asks impatiently from behind. “Yes, wonderful things,” Carter blurts out. My sentiments exactly. And this year the “things” are even more wonderful as the Winter Antiques Show marks its 60th year, or Diamond Jubilee.

Anyone who has spent enough time in New York City will tell you that sporting designer brands is pretty much a way of life for a lot of city dwellers and visitors. This metropolis is full of high-end boutiques and department stores that carry everything from Alexander McQueen to Louis Vuitton.